All the news, gossip and information about GoComics.com, its staff and the comics on the site.

'Tis the season for managing expectations and decking the halls with carefully considered gifts for people who have everything. No pressure, right? Actually, right! Allow us to answer that rhetorical question we just posed, because we've got nearly a score of righteous gift ideas for everyone on your list. Read on for our recommended comic collections, books, graphic novels and prints.

Nick Seluk has created a fine body of work in his comic The Awkward Yeti. Literally. It's full of strips starring the personifications of body parts navigating the challenges of daily life while expressing their not-always-congrous points of view! Why do you think this collection is called "Heart and Brain"? Surely you had a gut instinct!

Starring anatomically incorrect anatomy characters, Gut Instincts may just help you listen to your own body. Like right now as your own heart and brain make a unanimous decision to buy this hilarious collection.

Lincoln Peirce has been making fans laugh with the schoolyard mirth of Big Nate going on 25 years, so a collection worthy of a quarter of a decade could only be captured in this epic collection. At 472 pages, it's not technically the "Longest Nate" but it certainly remains the "Biggest Nate," and one any giftee's shelves will proudly support.

We could supply you a list of actionable best practices to optimize your gifting, but all we really need to do to sell you on Sarah Cooper's illustrated corporate survival guide is to admit that we use it on each other here at the office when sanity demands it. No meeting required. Enjoy your lunch. You're welcome.

They say that the holidays are a time for children, as only pure hearts are capable of absorbing their wintery wonders. In that case, it's a good thing Adulthood is a Myth. Sarah Andersen's collection of Sarah's Scribbles comics is a jolly reminder that there's no firm start date when it comes to having your life perfectly together. As you face the daunting demands of this gift giving season, this is one collection primed to help with you and your giftee of choice's pre and post-holiday self care.

These days most don't have a kind word to say about "The Media," but public sentiment would surely skew more positive if more people tuned into the ever-adorable Breaking Cat News. Based on creator Georgia Dunn's real life cats Lupin, Puck and Elvis, the CN news crew focuses on the issues that matter most with an unbiased look at making messes, investigative reports into birds flying into windows and getting cozy between a human's feet. Rest assured, this collection is not your average newscast.

Available in both hardcover and paperback versions, The Complete Calvin and Hobbes is the ultimate resource for C&H completionists and brand new fans alike. Containing each of Bill Watterson's beloved strips, book illustrations and more, these box sets will get any reader well through the winter (with sledding breaks aplenty, we suspect).

A decade of Far Sidestrips awaits in this handsome cow-patterned box set, which vaults readers into the furtherest recesses of Gary Larson's creativity banks and back. We could brag about its three volumes amassing 1278 total pages of comics, but in the case of this cartooning behemoth, it's equally impressive to note its weight of 11.6 lbs. You now have a unit of measurement for mirth: Complete Far Sides. A pug, for example, weighs about 1.2 Complete Far Sides. Not bad.

For many adults, the holidays are a time to cherish with the youngest members of the family. Kids love presents! Kids love to play! But thank goodness kids are taken away by their parents after a few hours so you can get back to higher pursuits like Netflix and sleeping in until noon. For parents, such selfish catharsis is discouraged, however. It's so unfair. Find refuge from the suffocating demands of parental perfection instead with Brian Gordon's latest Fowl Language collection, which joyously sheds the suffocating sentimentality of parenting in favor of a wittier reality. Get it for the parents in your life.

When Bill Amend decided to release a collection of 20+ years of his FoxTrot strip, he didn't leave the curation to just anybody, he picked the comics himself! This season, you can return the favor by picking The Best of FoxTrot for your curated list of best gifts. It's not exactly a balanced comparison. You likely only have a few dozen gifts to buy, while Bill had to dig through thousands of strips spanning 1988-2010 for a book with nearly 1,600 selections on 248 pages across two volumes in one box set. See how easy it is to do right by Bill? Get somebody who likes funny family goodness The Best of FoxTrot.

Over 30 years of Doonesbury comics, Gary Trudeau crafted a fictional narrative that saw Donald Trump rise to the highest office in the United States of America. It turned out to be nothing short of prescient. It makes you want to buy a copy to see just what else he foretold... And no, we cannot confirm that the pages are loaded with subliminals hinting at winning lottery numbers for the year 2046.

Jim Benton's collection of hilarious strips work to understand the nature of reality. That's probably why the full title of this tome clarifies its intended audience of people and advanced bears. Reality is heady stuff. A lot of people can't quite wrap their heads around it. Bears are smart and all, but it should be obvious to anyone who has ever watched cartoons that they're generally better for stealing picnic baskets and mauling things than questioning their universe. What were we saying? This is a cool collection. Get it for the advanced bears on your list.

Best known for his Savage Chickens, cartoonist Doug Savage broke out this year to draw a moose and a rabbit -- a Laser Moose and a Rabbit Boy, to be precise. What's a moose to do with a sunny pal and laser vision? Battle aliens, chimeras, cyborgs and robots, of course. Evildoers likely will not enjoy all that this present has to offer. Everyone else, though? You're in fine, laser-y shape.

When Gemma Correll isn't busy making our day with her Four Eyes comic, awesome calendars and pug art, she's... making even more goodness! This year the artist teamed with writer Hayley Long for Being a Girl, an illustrated guide -- well, more of a celebration -- to coming of age for young women. Funny, inspiring and full of practical, confidence-building information, Being a Girl is an empowering gift for the younger generation (and their parents).

The PBS 2017 Day-to-Day calendar doesn't just give you a daily dose of hilarious, hand-selected Pearls Before Swine weekly and weekend comic strips by creator Stephan Pastis -- it goes the extra mile to deliver bonus content on the back of every page. There's puzzles, jokes, lists, quotes, plus tips and trivia. You can also fold the tearable 5.5 x 6.2" pages into paper airplanes and throw them at family, friends, coworkers and other deserving humans in your life. Now there's a bonus!

Tom Fonder's The Adventures of Business Catcomic has a strange power. It plays on the corporate world's many frustrations -- complete with incompetent corporate leadership -- but somehow instead of fostering work-related PTSD, it makes you laugh. It may have something to do with the fact that the titular lead is an anthropomorphic cat in a suit and tie, but we're hardly doctors, let alone veterinarians. Buy it for your home. Or business. Or scratching post.

If you enjoy Gemma Correll's spin on the coming-of-age anxiety of early adulthood in her comic Four Eyes or her book The Worrier's Guide to Life, you'll find plenty to appreciate each month in this 2017 calendar. Plus it's guaranteed to help stop one particular worry in your life: whether or not you have a calendar. Don't say we never did anything for you!

Did you know you can order high-resolution prints of most comics on GoComics.com? You can even choose between five classy framing options! Most strips even have the option to be printed in black and white line art, or in full color. Not only do these prints on 11x17" archival paper look amazing and hold up better than snipping a strip from a newspaper and sticking it to your refrigerator, ordering one is also easier. Yes, really! All you have to do is click the shopping cart icon beneath your comic of choice, select "Buy Comic Art Prints" and make your art and framing choices. Just be sure to order framed prints by December 9 and plain prints by December 16 to make sure they're your way by December 25.

Today would-be-record-breakers of all stripes will work to achieve feats never before chronicled by the authoritative Guinness World Records. Or, at least people are supposed to, anyway. Otherwise what's this novelty holiday for?

Whatever the case, we're proud to report that we know a guy who successfully did that very thing! In 2014 Big Nate creator Lincoln Peirce teamed up with school kids, librarians, teachers and more from all over America to set a Guinness World Record for the longest comic strip in the world (by a team) on NBC's Today show. How long was it? Try 1,214.07 meters (approximately 3,983' 2"). That's longer than 11 football fields! As GWR's own motto goes, that's "Officially Amazing." With the average comic strip drawn at a scale of around 5 x 17" it's a pretty huge feat.

That's not to say there haven't been other huge feats in massive comic creation, though. Indian artist Suhas Palimkar holds the individual record for longest cartoon strip with a work 191.31 meters long in 2013. In Tokyo in 2010 the Adidas Japan K.K. and Sky Comic project team created GWR's official "Largest Comic Strip," which contained 3785.35 square meters of soccer manga.

Relive the making of the strip, along with its officiated confirmation below to set a record for "Most Immediate Satisfaction in Watching a Rad Comics Thing Happen":

Celebrating 25 years of Big Nate! Creator Lincoln Peirce shares his long journey with our favorite sixth-grade Renaissance Man, along with his favorite 25 Big Nate strips from the past 25 years.

Back when I started Big Nate, I remember reading that most comic strips lasted only two or three years. And early on, it looked like Big Nate was going to be one of those that didn’t make it. I’m grateful it stuck around — not only because I can’t think of another way I’d rather make a living, but because two or three years just isn’t enough time for a strip to hit its stride. Big Nate first appeared in 1991, and when I look at the strips I did in the early and mid-nineties, I can see that I was learning on the job. I was figuring out how to write good gags, how to draw consistently, and how to construct interesting storylines day after day. Berke Breathed of Bloom County once said that comic strips have a shelf life of about ten years before they start declining, but I respectfully disagree: after doing Big Nate for ten years, I felt like I was just scratching the surface. I believed that my best days were ahead of me. I still feel that way.

Looking back on a quarter century’s worth of Big Nate is a reminder that events often unfold in ways you might not have predicted. I started the strip thinking I’d focus on Nate’s family and home life; instead, the strip is largely concerned with Nate’s school adventures. I used to feature Nate’s own comics — simple cartoon drawings on lined notebook paper — several times per month; now I don’t feature them at all. Once-prominent characters like Ellen and Jenny have faded into the background, making room for the likes of Gina, Chad, School Picture Guy, and a host of others. But the more things change, the more they remain the same: Nate is still an energetic and exasperating sixth grade boy, just as he was in 1991. And even though I’m now in my early 50’s, I still feel closely connected to the experiences of middle school. Once, while giving a talk at a local library, I was asked, “How do you stay inside the mind of an 11 year-old boy?” And my answer was: “I never left.”

When my friends at GoComics asked me to pick my Top 25 Big Nate strips, I decided to select one from each year. In this election season, making sure that every year from 1991 to 2015 was represented seemed like the democratic thing to do. This isn’t meant to be a list of the “best” 25 strips I’ve ever done. Some strips are here because they’re personal favorites, others because they mark some sort of milestone. Some are included simply because they crack me up. That’s a comic strip’s ultimate bottom line, after all: it’s got to be funny. So here they are, from 25 all the way to number 1, with comments included for the Top Ten:

Chad has become one of my favorite characters in recent years. He’s got this endearingly sunny disposition, and he’s totally guileless — a complete innocent. Contrast that with Coach John’s psycho drill sergeant persona, and this is the result.

This strip is a favorite for several reasons. First, you’ve got the good-natured teasing that is so frequent among middle school boys. Second, you have the gag in the third panel. And finally, there's the vision of Nate and Francis laughing uproariously in panel #4. Laughter is contagious.

This sounds obvious, but a really important part of cartooning is drawing funny pictures. My drawing skills are average at best, so when I make a drawing I’m 100% happy with, that’s news. I love the expression on Nate’s face in panel #4. I don’ think I can draw him any funnier than that.

Doctor Cesspool isn’t just a character in Nate’s notebook; he’s a character I invented when I was in sixth grade, and he was a big part of Big Nate during the first few years. Featuring Nate’s comics as part of the strip allowed me to write different kinds of gags. It was like doing two strips instead of one.

Charles Schulz, the creator of Peanuts and my boyhood hero, died in February of 2000. Later that spring, the National Cartoonists Society invited its members to include a tribute to Peanuts in our own strips. This was my effort. Charlie Brown is probably the most iconic character in the history of comic strips, so drawing him in Big Nate was a thrill and an honor.

One of the longest storylines I ever did involved Nate and his P.S. 38 classmates being temporarily relocated to Jefferson — their rival school. The climax is an epic soccer match in which Nate, the goalkeeper, makes a great save to win the game. Big Nate is a strip that relies heavily on dialogue, and having the chance to do a wordless strip was a real treat. And this storyline generated a lot of reaction from readers, who were happy to see Nate be the hero.

I'm very fond of slapstick humor and the types of pratfalls that might be possible in real life but are highly unlikely to actually occur. You could try to describe a gag like this in words; you could try to film it using actors or even animate it. But there are certain gags that just seem to work best in the comic strip format.

I think this strip succeeds because it takes something we’re all familiar with — the way teachers use emojis to rate academic performance — and then doubles down by including an image that’s one of the most memorable emojis in the history of art. Even if readers have never seen Edvard Munch’s painting The Scream, they understand the gag.

There’s nothing especially significant about this strip, but it's one of my favorite gags ever, and I think it really sums up Big Nate. Nate receives some information; he processes that information differently than anyone else would; he expresses his feelings in a way that is uniquely his own; and he gets in trouble as a result. That’s pretty much what the strip is all about.

When I was twelve years old, I bought a 25th anniversary treasury of my favorite comic strip called Peanuts Jubilee. I read it over and over, astonished by the fact that Charles Schulz had been creating strips about Charlie Brown & friends for so long. But now that I’ve logged the same amount of time with my own comic strip, I realize that 25 years isn’t very long at all. It’s gone by in the blink of an eye. And I’ve decided that there’s nothing particularly noteworthy about sitting at my drawing table and producing a comic strip each day. It’s my job, and it’s also what I love to do. The amazing part is that there are so many people out there who apparently care about Big Nate almost as much as I do. Thank you, Big Nate readers! Your devotion to the strip is what has enabled me to continue writing and drawing it for as long as I have, and it’s been my pleasure. Time will tell if I have another quarter century in me, but I look forward to keeping you entertained for many years to come.

PREORDER EPIC BIG NATE -Hundreds of cartoons, selected by Peirce and presented with his witty and informative commentary, trace the evolution of the Big Nate comic strip and its colorful cast of characters. Also included is an exclusive Q&A featuring Peirce and Diary of a Wimpy Kid author Jeff Kinney, detailing the friendship and mutual admiration that contributed to each cartoonist’s success.

I know, right? Doesn't it seem like such a young, fresh strip? But I'd suggest we cast off our velvet cloak of surprise and drink heartily from the Grand Chalice of Big Nate Celebrating its Silver Anniversary.

I would like to note that there is no truth to the rumor that Lincoln based Coach John's (pictured above with Nate) look and feel on yours truly. We didn't even know each other when he introduced Coach John in the strip. But maybe Lincoln could feel me in his heart? Maybe he felt that a man of my carriage and bombast was to play an integral part in his future? Too wild to consider? Perhaps. Per-haps.

Meanwhile, our pals over at Andrews McMeel Publishing thought it would be a great opportunity to release a collection celebrating those 25 years and I agreed with them by drinking from the Grand Chalice of Agreement.

Check it out ... Epic Big Nate. It's out October 25th and it features Lincoln's work from 1991 to 2015 and will make you smile in your mouth and your heart like you were drinking from the Grand Chalice of Happiness.

After a busy summer working tirelessly on the new GoComics experience (coming this fall!!), attending San Diego Comic-Con, and keeping hard at work with our creators back in KC, we’re excited to announce that we’re headed back to New York Comic Con!

There's plenty of surprises and goodies for fans who visit our booth (2219)! Not only will we be selling hilarious merch, we're also giving attendees a chance to preview the brand-new GoComics.com, AND we'll have FREE creator signings, daily giveaways, and much more:

Sneak peek of the NEW GoComics.com: We're so close to rolling out our new website to give you an unparalleled online comics experience. Can’t wait to see the site? Get a sneak peek and sign up as a beta tester at our booth! Bonus: We'll give you a FREE “Read Comics Every Day” lanyard!

Daily Giveaways: Toss your name into the fishbowl at our booth for a chance to win our daily featured prize! We’ll be giving away complete collections of The Far Side and Calvin and Hobbes, plus an Awkward Yeti prize pack, and special Big Nate prizes to commemorate the 25th anniversary.

Epic Big Nate Birthday Bash: The Big Nate comic strip is 25! Join us to celebrate Big Nate’s birthday with creator Lincoln Peirce. We’re featuring a two-hour signing, party favors, and giving away a copy of the brand-new book, “Epic Big Nate” — an epic compilation of Peirce’s favorite cartoons from the past 25 years, plus all the details you’ve wanted to know about Big Nate and its creator. You won’t want to miss this!

All of this and more awaits you at booth 2219! Stay up-to-date by following us on Twitter and Instagram — we’ll be sharing photos from the convention floor. We hope to see you there!

Unless you were among the lucky graduates, it’s that time of year again!

Going back to school never gets easier. Students bid adieu to sleeping in, summer nights, swimming all day and staying up too late, and say hello to piles of homework, early mornings and new teachers.

But for parents, the first day of school has been long-awaited and is not-so-secretly celebrated. Parents say sayonara to “so bored” kids, sibling brawls and constantly hungry mouths, and get to enjoy some silence, serenity and much-needed alone time.

For those returning to the classroom, prepare for procrastination to come alive again.

Sarah's Scribbles by Sarah Andersen

And let’s be honest, “I have homework” is really just an excuse for watching YouTube videos for three hours.

Sarah's Scribbles by Sarah Andersen

School also starts incredibly, unnecessarily early. Don’t forget to set your alarm for the crack of dawn, even though your parents will still have to drag you — kicking and screaming — out of bed.

FoxTrot by Bill Amend

Prepare for the rigid school schedule you may have forgotten over the summer. Instead of being disciplined by mom and dad for missing curfew, it’s time to dig down deep and find the discipline within yourself to get all of that homework (and last-minute summer reading) done.

Big Nate by Lincoln Peirce

Some parts of school might be a drag, but take advantage of it. Education isn’t an option for everyone. Consider yourself lucky, and work hard this year!

On Thursday, May 26, dozens of cartoonists will meet in Memphis for the 70th annual National Cartoonists Society Reuben Awards. Before the awards ceremony that weekend, their first stop will be at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

“We have invited the artists who are attending the NCS conference to sit down with patient families and draw works for them to take home, with the hopes that the experience brings them some joy despite their very difficult circumstances,” said Steve McGarry, leader of the National Cartoonists Society Foundation.

That night, guests will get the chance to mingle with the cartoonists for dinner, a silent auction and entertainment. The fundraising event is open to the public. Cartoonists attending include:

Librarians, that’s who. In honor of National Library Workers Day (which is today), let’s talk a little bit about just one of the many, many reasons why the folks that work in our libraries are so awesome. That reason is comics.

Librarians have long been staunch comics advocates because they understand that comics can be an important tool to promote literacy. They are largely responsible for getting comics into the hands of the people who want to read them (which is, like, mostly everybody) by putting them front and center in their libraries, at their tradeshows and in the media. (Fun fact: Librarians made award-winning graphic novelist Gene Luen Yang this year’s Honorary Chair of National Library Week. So, yeah, they totally get it.)

Libraries are often underfunded, understaffed and under-supported. Fortunately for us, there are many passionate and dedicated people—paid and unpaid—that keep them operating. So the next time you’re at your public library or your kid’s school, take a moment to tell a library worker how awesome they truly are.

Check out AMP! Kids to find the above mentioned titles, lots of fun stuff for kids, resources for parents and educators, and much more.

As many artists will tell you, some of their most brilliant work is inspired by love.

This certainly rings true for Big Nate, an aspiring artist himself. Nate may have many school crushes, but there’s only one thing that truly has his heart. Orange, puffy and delicious, Cheez Doodles give Nate that heart-pounding, butterflies-in-the-stomach, can’t-stay-away feeling.

There's never a dull moment with Nate Wright in the picture. Whether getting caught playing table football in the library or raiding the teachers' lounge, Nate's antics are always hilarious and detention-worthy!

There's never a dull moment with Nate Wright in the picture. Whether getting caught playing table football in the library or raiding the teachers' lounge, Nate's antics are always hilarious and detention-worthy!

Sixth grade can be a tension convention for Nate Wright. His baseball team’s just been given the lamest name in Little League history; he’s on the verge of becoming know-it-all Gina’s personal servant for a day; and Spitsy, the closest thing he has to a dog of his own, is in love with a CAT. Yup, Nate’s up to his ears in stress. Luckily, the perfect remedy is close at hand: an empty plastic soda bottle. All Nate has to do is drum it gently against his head — thunka, thunka, thunka – and the pressures of dealing with Coach John, Mrs. Godfrey and the terrifying Kim Cressly begin to fade away. Who knew an empty bottle could be so therapeutic? There’s only one stress-buster that’s better: reading Big Nate comics! So sit back, relax and enjoy this latest collection, "Thunka, Thunka, Thunka."

See how author Lincoln Peirce came up with this stress-buster in the video below:

Get a copy of “Big Nate: Thunka Thunka Thunka” here! And, read Big Nate every day on GoComics here.

Today, we set aside our political allegiances to salute the 44 commanders in chief of our great nation. To commemorate America’s highest office, we’ve compiled a “Thank you” note of sorts, listing a few of the many things we owe to our founding fathers:

1. Freedom of speech: Because of the U.S. Constitution, we are at liberty to speak frankly whenever we please.

Nothing is Not Something by Greg Wallace

2. Teaching us the value of virtue: Washington and Honest Abe never told a lie, and neither should you.

Half Full by Maria Scrivan

Big Nate by Lincoln Peirce

3. Bravery: Taking on this responsibility is no cakewalk, that’s for sure.

Hard-working, courageous, responsible, respectful – those are just a few of the qualities you’d expect to find in your friendly neighborhood boy scout. A program teaching important life skills and values, scouting has had a profound impact on the lives of many young men across America, from presidents to astronauts – even GoComics’ very own Nate Wright.

The beginning of the year is all about freshening up your routine and trying something new, making January the perfect time to celebrate International Creativity Month!

This month, we’ve encouraged readers to unleash their inner creativeand embrace the opportunity to step out of their comfort zones. Now, with just four days left in January, we’re giving you 5 suggestions to help you finish the month on a high note and keep those creative juices flowing all year long!

Creativity is a key component of success, so, if you’ve never tapped into that side of your brain, now is the time! It’s never too late to make a positive change – and have a little fun while doing it!